Improvement in preventing interfering in horses



to by the nails a a,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN PREVENT ING INTERFERING IN HORSES.

specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 42,937, dated May 31, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, EDWARD M. GARDNER, of Nantucket, in the county of Nantucket, in the State of Massachusetts, lhave` made a new j and useful invention for preventing one foot of a horse, -or the shoe thereof, or the nails of such shoe, from interfering with and Wounding the leg or ankle ofthe opposite foot; and l I .do hereby declare the same to be :fully described in the following specification and rep resented in theaccompanying drawings, of wvhielil f Figure l denotes an under side view of a horses hoof and shoe having my invention. Fig. 2 is a side View, and Fig. 3 a transverse section, of the same. Fig. 4 is a top view of Vthe guard to be hereinafter described.

)Iy invention consists, principally, in a pel culiarguard made withand applied to the foot of a horse, and held thereto by the shoe and the nails thereof, substantially as hereinafter explained, and as exhibited in the said-drawings.

In such drawings A denotes the hoof of a horse, while B is the shoe thereof as applied to its sole, and secured to the hoof by nailsa a.

Gis the guard, which consists of along and round piece, d, of vulcanized india-rubber, curved longitudinally, and having a lip or flange, b, projecting from its inner side. This guard is to be arranged on the inner side. of the foot and at the junction of the shoe B and the foot, the lip or iange'b being placed between the shoe and the foot and secured therewhich hold the shoe in place, such nails being driven through the lip as Well as through the shoe and into the hoof. The guard thus, made is an elastic cushion or an attachment orlip,

fender, which' operates to prevent the shoe or its nails or the hoef from striking the opposite leg or ankle of the horse ivhile he may be f in the act of -either walking, trotting, or run ning. g I do not always intend tomake the said 'guard of lvulcanized india-rubber, as it may be constructed of gutta-percha or of any elas- A tic material or materials suitable for the purpose. v

I am aware that it has been customary to -put a ring 0r .band of leather or an annular cushion about the' leg and just above the ankle l `of a horse in order to prevent interference of the hoof of one leg with the ankle or other partvof the other leg, and therefore Ilay no claim to such devices or their arrangement l and application. My invention differs essenl tially from such not only in its application,

but in its arrangement, for in the first place my guard is made so as to be held to the foot by the shoe and its nails, and yit is so arranged as to prevent the edge of the shoe as Well as the clinches of the'nails from coming in conj tact with the opposite leg or ankle and wounding the same. The construction and arrangement of myimproved guard or device for prer venting i-nterfering7 has both novelty and advantage with respect to a cushion o r band Il buckled around that part of the legof a horse which is just above the ankle thereof,l

) I claim as my inventlion- I Al. The said guard, as made with the lip a f and thepart b, formed and arranged substantiallyin manner and for the appliedto the footof a horse, as specified.

2. The arrangement of the guard C (or its lip aand part b) withrespect to the hoof, shoe, and the shoe-nails of a'horse, substantially in manner as specied.

` EDWARD M. GARDNER.

I Witnesses:

l Isaac h-IYRTCK, Jr.,

| JOHN I. ELDRIDGE.

purpose of being 

